India and China crowned the most corrupted countries in the world

Consensus says that this century belongs to India and China. We are seeing how these countries are redefining the way business is done globally. Outsourcing / Offshoring is now a norm. These two southern Asian countries are now the most lucrative markets in the world, thanks to 40% of world population residing here.

However, both these South Asian countries are facing tremendous growth hurdle in form of corruption. According to the Bribe Payers Index released by Transparency International, India and China have highest amount of corruption amongst the 30 leading economies of the world.

Have a look at Bribe Payers Index (BPI), the lower the average score, higher the corruption.

Rank

Country/ territory

Average score
(0-10)

Percentage of global exports

1

Switzerland

7.81

1.2

2

Sweden

7.62

1.3

3

Australia

7.59

1.0

4

Austria

7.50

0.5

5

Canada

7.46

3.5

6

UK

7.39

3.6

7

Gemany

7.34

9.5

8

Netherlands

7.28

3.4

9

Belgium

7.22

3.3

9Â

US

7.22

8.9

11

Japan

7.10

5.8

12

Singapore

6.78

2.2

13

Spain

6.63

1.9

14

UAE

6.62

1.1

15

France

6.50

4.3

16

Portugal

6.47

0.3

17

Mexico

6.45

2.1

18

Hong Kong

6.01

2.8

18

Israel

6.01

0.4

20

Italy

5.94

3.6

21

South Korea

5.83

2.8

22

Saudi Arabia

5.75

1.8

23

Brazil

5.65

1.2

24

South Africa

5.61

0.5

25

Malaysia

5.59

1.4

26

Taiwan

5.41

1.9

27

Turkey

5.23

0.7

28

Russia

5.16

2.4

29

China

4.94

5.5

30

India

4.62

1.2

The results draw from the responses of more than 11,000 business people in 125 countries polled in the World Economic Forum’s Executive Opinion Survey. A score of 10 indicates a perception of no corruption, while zero means corruption is seen as rampant. Leading the ranking is Switzerland, but even its score of 7.8 is far from perfect.

About Arun Prabhudesai

Arun Prabhudesai is founder / chief editor at trak.in. He jumped the Entrepreneurship bandwagon in early 2008 after a long 13 year stint in I.T Industry. You can follow him on twitter @trakin and Facebook.
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15 comments

Angelos Giannakopoulos, coordinator of the study "Crime and Culture – relevant perceptions corruption to crime prevention " (CE study): “For Romania one can speak of a generalized culture of corruption. Citizens consider corruption as a normal way to solve things. This way of thinking and doing is deeply rooted in moral attitudes, conceptual and practical of everyday life.”Romanians have the perception of a kind " mafiot whole " above the law, that are aggregated multiple interests from all sections of society: politics, police, judiciary,…

Well, i think that one of the most corrupted country in this world is Angola. But tell me how do you classify this. what are the basic step to do this. i´ll help if necessary. next time i´ll tell you why Angola is one of the most corrupted countries in this world. your grading is wrong.

Since the rule of Smt. Indira Gandhi, the Congress Party and the Congress Government are engaged and involved in producing, creating, spreading and encouraging corruption, crimes, vices and evils in the society through political parties, politicians, ministers, public servants, government servants, judges, police, committees, commissions, mafias, criminals, frauds, anti-national elements, RICH PEOPLE, CORPORATES and terrorists. The government is making each one of them corrupt, criminal and vicious. There is only one solution left to abolish corruption. India should be built on only one principal that is DHARAM KI RAKSHA KE LIYE ADHARM KA NASH KARO. All the nation loving people of India will have to get united and they will have to be JALLAD or HITLER minded. They should not have any sympathy or mercy for corrupt people because corrupt are always irresponsible, careless, negligent, unaccountable, unanswerable, liar, criminal, fraud, mean, dirty, characterless, hopeless, useless and anti-national. They are the No. 1 enemy of the people and the country. They are the most dangerous and harmful to the people and the nation. They are the GERMS OF CANCER and they are worst and dirtiest than drainage water. They must be killed on the spot along with their all family members and seized all their properties. people will have to take laws in hand, as government and Congress Party are the operators of corruption and crimes in the country. Behind every scam, scandal, violence, murder or accident of political leaders, bomb blast, terrorist attack the congress party and the congress government and its alliance are involved. Only on the direction of them bomb blasts and terrorist attacks happen in India. The congress is not at all interested in the people of India they are sold in the hands of Dawood Ibhahim, Pakistan Government, ISI, Arab and UAE countries and USA. Declare WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION from this moment.

Sir, can you name an alternative ‘Party’ as ‘better’ – in a country WHERE: 1. ‘Money Power’ FUNDS ‘Elections’ [ where GOVERNANCE is ‘BUSINESS’ , &, NOT SERVICE ] ; 2. ‘Governance’ is of ‘Coalition’ of COMROMISES; 3. where anyone can get a ‘Ticket’ to ‘Contest for Election’ unless proved by ‘Court of Law’ to be a ‘Criminal’, despite his/her ill-Fame in own constituency; [NB: ‘Court of Law’ = where the CASE may ‘DRAG-on for years'; 4. the citizen has NO choice-VOTE to vote ‘NO’ to ‘All of Above'; 5. the CIVIL SOCIETY has NO ‘RIGHT TO RECALL’ [ as ‘Government” practically means = ‘RULER’, & NOT what Constitutionally it stands for ( i.e. -a ‘CUSTODIAN’ in a DEMOCRACY ]; 6. the words ‘MANDATE’ (‘JANADESH’) are conveniently used to by the ‘LIKES’ i or u would NOT LIKE TO VOTE FOR, but for the above stated lacunae in our Electoral System. So, Sir, now can ‘WE, THE PEOPLE’ stand back to continue BLAME-GAMING, conversing upon the CURRENT MOST FRUSTRATING ISSUE in the LIFE OF our Nation, i.e. – CORRUPTION (which has made HIPOCRACY of our DEMOCRACY). The ANSWER is … one MIND, one NATION, one ACTION ( collective / mass movement like … in PAST; … in PRESENT; &, the NEED OF THE HOUR : collective PIL for ELECTORAL REFORMS ) !

546 Criminals Rule India.. Don't understand??? In Parliament there are 546 scoundrals make the rules and run India on one leg.. Shame on Indian Politics.. I lived in USA and UK, when I came back to India after 5 years I did not see any great change…. The corruption and bribe is still high.. local rowdies became MLA's and MP's.. Third grade pimps became ministers.. Indian Politics and constitution must be changed.. Yes.. Only Highly educated and good career record holders must get into politics. 2. For every money transaction in any sort of business must maintain proper records and bills. other wise they must be sued. 3. seize every property of the corrupted officer in any department. 4. Who said India is a poor country??? India has a lot of black money where it can buy 10 Americas. Once I felt great and proud to be an Indian.. Now I feel really regretted to say I am an Indian. Uday

ramaraoms The experience of the entrepreneur is unfortunate. What you say in para 2 about the old man and his making of money, does not come under corruption. It is total fraud and misrepresentation as he has registered. He is a super entrepreneur!! Wonder how you did your business even without registering that too under the watchful eyes of this old man who gave you Rs 3000, and made Rs 30 lakhs!! You have great capacity ,, forget this episode go ahead cautiously, success will be yours.

WoW..Indian entrepreneur…your story really makes me think (and BTW…I probably know as you are a regular commenter of this blog)… The two points that I gather from what you have written is that, you are first saying, India is not highly corrupted…I disagree…infact I think the numbers given here are low compared to what is there actually. Corruption is one of the most serious problems in India (along with Infrastructure). You will be amazed just knowing different ways of corruption it is cash and in kind…. The second point is surprising …I just can’t believe that this can happen…and if it has, I’d say you were too…too careless…

Two things come to my mind after seeing these stats. 1. Calculate per head amount of corruption value (total amount worth of corruption/total population of country). I am not clear on how the given stats are calculated but, more the population, more the amount of corruption. In countries like India and china, even small amounts of bribery add up quickly to a big amount. When we calculate per head quantity of corruption, we can better understand the nature of people. Just see, a small country where 90% people take big bribes and a large country where only 20% take the same big bribes. 2. Another kind of corruption of forcefully using talent of young entrepreneurs to make money (may be interesting to blog readers like this blog) is very high in India. I was an entrepreneur in Bangalore. Started a business with a few thousands and made Rs.30 lakhs in 8 months net profits. A kind old man told me to use his office so that I can save some money instead of paying office rents. Also helped me to put the board (He gave me Rs 3000/-). After 6 months I wanted to register the company and asked this old man to suggest some good CA. One fine Sunday I went to office and unexpectedly met a guy. I never saw him earlier. He also did not know me. While talking to him I came to know that, my company was already registered (with out my knowledge) and the software we were developing is sold for 30 lakhs by this old man. The next day when I demanded the truth from this old man, I was forced to leave office. I came out having a lesson learned in my entrepreneurship journey. A few threatening e mails haunted me for next 2 or 3 months. Giving a wrong name and mail id to be anonymous. The person who can see the visitor statistics of this blog can easily figure out me as I post a few other comments (of course, not like this ) with my original name and mail id.

Corruption in India and China:- India and China are two competitors in IT and in many other fields. Most importantly in corruption ! Of late, the economic prosperity has fueled corruption to dizzy heights in both countries.Wonder whether there is competition here also!! In India, corruption is a secret code in any office. A file is sent finally but the top political man puts, ” not approved” Then knowing the code, the man gives a brief case of currency notes. The file is > amended “note approved”!! by inserting letter ‘e ‘ after not !! The need of the hour is a total reformation from the top political brass down to the police constable, strict law enforcement, confiscation of property got by corruption, revamping education to the raising generation to teach the evils and the dangers of all forms of corruption to the health of the country. In fine to bring character and fair play in public life. But all bold steps should be from the top. >

I agree with the post you have posted that india and china is the most corrupted in the global nation. India in particularly is first in corruption and in population. But unfortunately last in other things. These are because of indian laws are more helpful for someone doing criminal things.

All the developed nations are at the top and least developed ones are at the bottom…poverty always leads to crime and corruption but as India & China grow bigger and eradicate poverty and improve standards these kind of statistics would also change…:)

A complete agreement with you here Trakin. I too had a similar post some days ago on my blog where talking on my I&C theme. Having lived in the India for so long and been in schools, universities and at work place, I found that nothing works there without money and have also seen that if you are not wanting to indulge in this system of "give n take" you are the looser but then from another look all are not the same The philosophy of honest Indians is far different and they stick to it no matter what!! In China I wouldnt comment on their corruption levels as I see here more honest people than I have In India. Just an opinion.